Princes’ Game Series

Even the Wingless, Princes’ Game Book 1

The Alliance has sent twelve ambassadors to the Chatcaavan Empire; all twelve returned early, defeated. None of their number have been successful at taking that brutal empire to task for their violations of the treaty. None have survived the vicious court of a race of winged shapechangers, one maintained by cruelty, savagery and torture.

Lisinthir Nase Galare is the Alliance’s thirteenth emissary. A duelist, an esper and a prince of his people, he has been sent to bring an empire to heel. Will it destroy him, as it has his predecessors? Or can one man teach an empire to fear… and love?

Some Things Transcend, Princes’ Game Book 2

Given a choice, Lisinthir Nase Galare would have stayed in the Chatcaavan Empire to help its reformed Emperor and Queen remake the worlds in their image. But when his presence proved a threat to the Emperor’s attempts, he bowed to necessity and accepted an exile that he thought would kill him… for what was left without duty and the company of the beloved? Adding insult to injury, his escort home included two psychiatrists, as if he was something broken and in need of therapy… and one of them was another Eldritch. Did they expect him to spill his soul to anyone without the courage to make his sacrifices, and to a member of a species he now considered completely craven? And would he even have the chance, when the Emperor’s enemies had a vested interest in never letting him see the other side of the border?

Xenotherapists Jahir and Vasiht’h of the novels Mindtouch and Mindline make a guest appearance in this second book of the Princes’ Game, and the game is as large as the fate of three nations and millions of worlds. Perhaps there’s a role for an additional prince on the playing field….

Amulet Rampant, Princes’ Game Book 3

In an effort to stop a war and hold the Thorn Throne, the Chatcaavan Emperor has embarked on the bloody subjugation of the rebels who are tearing the Empire apart to serve their ambitions. He has left the palace in the hands of the newly christened Queen Ransomed and encircled her with his allies.

One of them is a traitor.

All the lessons the Queen has learned—in personhood, in agency, in courage—may not be enough to equip her for the challenges before her. Nor is she the only one facing a revelation that could shatter worlds: Lisinthir Nase Galare, newly returned to the Alliance, has invited his cousin to their promised assignation, and discovered by accident a weapon that could turn the tide.

Book Three of the Princes’ Game begins with a tryst and ends with a clarion call to battle. How many will answer the call? And will they see the end of the conflict unchanged?

Only the Open, Princes’ Game Book 4

Greed. Power. Cruelty. These have been the watchwords by which Chatcaava of lesser means have been ruled for generations, and even the most valuable among them, the Slave Queen, has lived the whole of her life beneath their yoke. Only one male in all the Empire is beyond those depredations…

…or was.

The Exalted Emperor of the Chatcaavan Empire was willing to be changed by the lessons he learned from the mouth—and hands—of an alien, but that willingness left him vulnerable to his own predatory peers. When the males he entrusted to help him reform the court betray him, he has no choice but to flee. But what lessons will he learn in exile? And can they prevent the implosion of an Empire that is already ripping itself apart?

Lisinthir, the Queen Ransomed, Jahir and Vasiht’h, Sediryl, and their host of Pelted allies have thrown themselves into the fray to prevent a catastrophic war. But none of their efforts will matter if they cannot save the male who alone can save them all.

In Extremis, Princes’ Game Book 5

An Eldritch Ambassador began the regeneration of a dragon, a regeneration that nearly ended in the harem of a Chatcaavan worldlord. Rescued before he could die, the Emperor now faces the nearly impossible challenge of assailing an empire intent on conquest while reconciling the life he lived before with the person he’s becoming.

He can’t do it alone.

Sediryl’s impending capture by pirates inspired her to a daring gamble, one that landed her in the confidences of their megalomaniacal leader. That this has placed her perfectly to pass intelligence to her allies is a stroke of luck, one that ties her to the very heart of the Empire and the fragile link that holds them all together.

That link is dying.

Neither the Chatcaavan Empire nor the Alliance will recover from the titanic clash toward which they are accelerating… and the only thing standing between them is a frail network of rebels and spies, of allied Eldritch and Pelted and Chatcaava. But can such different people hold together against such impossible odds? And can they pay the cost to stop an unwinnable war, when the price is so incredibly high?